Ryder's POV:

I sit at the computer in the school library, chatting with Katie.So when can we meet?I really want to know this girl in person instead of just over the internet. We have so much in common and I want to be friends-maybe more-in real life.

Ping.An answer comes almost immediately.What about after school today? I could come to your house.

Excited, I typeSure! Does 6:00 work? I can't do immediately after school-glee club, remember?

Katie sends,Works for me. Address?

I type my address as my only response before logging off.

My mom is at the grocery store and my dad at work when someone rings my doorbell. "Coming!" I shout. I run to the mirror in the hall and smooth down my hair, breathing out before walking over to the door and opening it. My smile drops the moment I see a, presumably, forty-year-old man staring back at me. Not Katie yet. "Uh...Can I help you, sir?"

The man suddenly has a grin that makes me sick to my stomach. "I'm looking for a Ryder. We met online."

This is Katie?I feel my eyes widen and my jaw drop as I attempt to slam the door in his face. He catches it before it closes and grabs my arm. I struggle to pull away but his grip is too tight.What have I done? Stupid! So stupid! This is why they had all those internet safety classes in elementary school, and now you've gone and given this creep your address!

The man walks into my house, forcing me to walk backwards, and closes the door with his foot. He turns me around and grabs both my hands, forcing them behind my back as he leads me to the hall where the bedrooms are.

He passes all the open rooms and walks into mine-probably because mine looks like a teenage boy's room the most. I close my eyes, accepting my fate. It's all my fault that this happened. How could I be so stupid?

Except maybe I don't have to go through this again. He pushes me down on my bed, and that's when I kick him in the stomach. I try to get up but he just forces me down roughly, smacking me in the face. "Don't even try. You're not getting out of this one. You wanted to meet in person, didn't you?"

I don't comment, knowing not to push my luck. My cheek burns and I want nothing more than to die, but I'll cause myself the least pain possible if I can't escape. He takes off my clothes first, and I close my eyes against the tears as he touches me. I shudder, not only because of what's happening, but because it's almost exactly the same as before, except his hands are bigger, rougher than Carmen's.

As he's forcing himself on me, I hear the door open and close and feel a surge of hope rush through me. Snapping my eyes open, I call out, "Mom?! Help!"

The man smacks me again, hissing, "Quiet!" but I hear my mom's yell.

"Ryder?! What's wrong?" She opens the door and gasps, pulling the man away from me and holding his hands behind his back before he can react.

I start to cry from relief. "Mom..." I whisper. I'd hug her if she weren't preoccupied. I stand and redress myself before wiping my eyes and getting my cell phone out of my pocket and calling 911.

When the police get here and my mom can finally release her grip on that monster, I finally run to her and she wraps me up in a tight embrace.

Blaine's POV:

I'm sitting in my seat in the choir room when Ryder, who's been gone for the past few days, walks in.

"Dude," Jake exclaims, ignoring Mr. Schuester, "What happened?"

"Guys," Ryder whispers in response, "it...it happened again." He sits down in a chair, turning it to face us while we each grab a chair and form a circle. "So...You know that girl I was texting?" I nod with everyone else because I vaguely remember a conversation about it. "Turns out there was no girl. It was a forty-year-old man. He . . . he tried to rape me."

Kitty looks at him with tears in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Luckily my mom found me before he could do it, but..." Ryder lets out a small sob. "It was terrifying."Give me a break.

Artie looks horrified. "That's terrible, man."
"Yeah," Sam says, "I'm so sorry to hear that."

He laughs bitterly, shaking his head. "Oh, sonowyou care? Really? So, it was okay when my babysitter touched my seven-year-old self, but now that it's a guy it's different? Would it be okay if it really was a girl this time?!"

Artie looks about ready to defend himself but seems to realize something. "I'm sorry."

Sam agrees. "Yeah. We were being real jerks that day. I had no right to say those things."

"It's alright. Well...it's not alright, but...I forgive you."

Brittney looks at Ryder with sad eyes and says, "If you need to talk we're here for you."

"Yeah," Tina agrees.Shut up,shutup! He doesn't deserve all your sympathy.

Mr. Schuester pipes up, "And you can always talk to us or Miss Pillsbury."

Ryder's nodding his head in thanks when I, unable to hold it in, finally explode. "Why are you guys feeling sorry for him? It's his fault for talking to that guy in the first place."

Looking shocked, Mr. Schue starts, "Blaine—"

"No! If he didn't want it he shouldn't have given his address to some random guy on the internet!" I persist. He shouldn't have decided to talk to someone on the internet. It was his fault and he has to face the consequences, just like I had to face the consequences of going to Eli's house.

Tina looks disgusted. "What'swrongwith you, Blaine?! He nearly got raped and you're trying to convince him it's his fault?"

Rage boiling inside me, I wipe away an angry tear as I stand.How can they not understand?"I—I...Itishis fault!" Because it is, isn't it? It was his choice to talk to "Katie", his choice to give "her" his address. It was all him and he has to deal with it. Just like it was my choice to go to Eli's house when I knew what he wanted, Iknewit; just because I backed out of it and he wouldn't let me change my mind doesn't mean I can just call it rape.

"Blaine," Mr. Schue says again, "none of it was Ryder's fault. This is serious and traumatic and we can't just be blaming him for all this when he's probably already blaming himself."

Scoffing because Mr. Schue is just another person who didn't care, just another who couldn't see I was broken, I answer, "How was it not his fault whenhe choseto invite a complete stranger over? How—"

Marley interrupts, "Look at him! How could you say those things?"

I scream, "It's not fair! Why does he get all your sympathy? Why do you even care?!"

Kitty looks ready to bite my head off when suddenly Sam says—not yells,says,and maybe that's what gets my attention—"Wait. Blaine...What's not fair? How is it not fair?" He sounds contemplative, cautious.

My eyes widen as I realize what he's implying. "Oh nonononono. I wasn't r-raped, I got exactly what I wanted, exactly what I had coming to me. It was my fault."

Mr. Schue's eyes widen as he asks, "Sam, what do you know?"

I shake my head at the blonde but he just sighs and tells everyone, "So Blaine cheated on Kurt with a guy named Eli, and...Blaine, did you actually want to have sex with Eli?"

Everyone's worried stares are suffocating and I shake my head frantically, backing up until I hit a wall.This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be—it takes me a moment to realize I'm mumbling those words out loud. I slide down onto the floor, putting my head in my hands.

"Blaine," Sam says again, "Did you actually want it?"

"No," I finally say. "But I still went to his house. Just because I changed my mind doesn't mean it's rape, Sam." I laugh slightly because this is ridiculous.

"Actually, Blaine..." I hear Mr. Schue's voice getting closer, "It can mean that. Guys...stay here. I'll be back." I vaguely hear him whisper to someone, "Make sure Blaine and Ryder don't leave," but it's not like I'm going anywhere.

I look up to see Ryder coming over to sit next to me. "Blaine...I know it's hard to come to terms with—it took me forever to accept what Carmen did to me—but you're not alone, man."

"I...I wasn't raped," I whisper weakly, looking up at him.

"Yes you were," he tells me.

"No, I wasn't!"

"Look at me, Blaine,look at me!" He grabs my chin, turning my head so our eyes are locked. "You were raped, Blaine," he states firmly. That's when the tears start. He lets go of me and I start sobbing into my hands.

Mr. Schuester comes back into the room with Ms. Pillsbury at his heels. "Blaine? Ryder? Would you guys like to talk to me?" the redhead asks softly.

I look at Ryder; he looks back and nods, so I whisper, "Yes.Please."